Studies on the retention of microencapsulated l-5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid in baked bread using skim milk powder.

Abstract Our aim was to protect l -5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (L-5-MTHF) from degradation throughout the baking and storage of a fortified white bread using microencapsulation. L-5-MTHF, with or without sodium ascorbate (ASC), was microencapsulated using skim milk powder (SMP) as the coating agent. Recoveries of L-5-MTHF in spray-dried materials were greater than 95 ± 5%. Microencapsulated L-5-MTHF was completely released from the skim milk coating material in simulated gastric fluid within the first 10 min at 37 °C. Incorporation of SMP-L-5-MTHF or SMP-L-5-MTHF + ASC into bread gave recoveries of 81.3 ± 1.3% and 87.1 ± 1.2% ( n  = 3), respectively, for L-5-MTHF immediately after bread baking. These treatments also showed significantly ( p